Asian candy comes in a wide assortment of options from all over the continent. Do you like your snacks sugary sweet for a rush, or are you more of a sour pickle fan?
On the other hand, maybe you prefer slightly spicier nibbles with a sharp kick. Whichever is your preference, we went grocery shopping at 5 Asian supermarkets and found 13 different options for you to try in our snack review below.
The candies selected are either sour, sweet or spicy, so there's something for everyone! Get cosy while you read this article, and you might find a new favourite snack on the list!
Jump to:
- White Rabbit
- Chibi Sours
- Hawthorn Candy
- Ting Ting Jahe Ginger Candy
- Classic Asian Guava Candy
- Amira (Tamarind Asian candy)
- Chun Guang Coconut Asian Candy
- Jelly Pearls
- Cocoaland Mango gummy
- Chinese Good Luck Candy
- Kopiko (Asian Coffee Candy)
- Wang wang crackers
- Hong Kong Style Dragon Beard Candy
- Best Asian Candy List
White Rabbit
White rabbit might be the most well-recognised Asian sweet. You only need to look at its blue and white wrapper with the distinct rabbit logo, and you will recognise it.
The white rabbit is a soft, chewy sweet wrapped in edible rice paper. The milky core dissolves as you chew when you bite into it. This is a nostalgic sweet as it reminds many Asians of their childhood.
Growing up, children at school would share it with friends as a sign of friendship.
The sweet originates from China but has fans all over Asia and even in the West. Innovative chefs have even used it to create ice cream flavours. It has inspired many different variations, but nothing beats the original.
White Rabbit
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Chibi Sours
This popular Asian gummy candy is often seen in Japanese convenience stores worldwide.
They taste chewy and sour, with an intense burst of fruity flavour. The inner core is even softer than its exterior, and a smattering of sugar coats the outside.
What makes them so different from gummies produced in the West? Well, we think it's the intense fruit flavour. But we also like it for its diverse flavours.
So whether you like orange, grape or green apple, you'll find something you enjoy. We love the variety of flavours and the chibi (a Japanese word that means 'small') size because it feels much less sinful!
Chibi Sours
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Hawthorn Candy
Supermarkets usually sell this vegan Asian candy in a pack wrapped in bright red paper. Unwrap each package and find a stack of dark pink, thin wafer-like slices cut into circles. The wrapper has fireworks on it.
It has a light, sweet taste with a slightly sour afternote. This snack is a product of hawthorn fruit mixed with sugar, so it has no animal products mixed in it at all. Hawthorn fruit was also originally used to make Chinese candied fruit.
We love the addictive tart taste and the mild flavour. You can have as many as you like. A fun fact is that most Asians will know this snack because it's what our parents or doctors give us after taking bitter herbal medicine!
Hawthorn sweet
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Ting Ting Jahe Ginger Candy
This Asian candy is made out of ginger and comes from Indonesia. It has a dull, chewy taste when you first bite into it. But keep chewing, and then you'll get a peppery kick from the ginger.
Many people who have tried it really like it. Chewing on the sweet helps with nausea and stomach problems. Furthermore, chewing on ginger is known to help with dizziness and motion sickness.
This bonbon is an excellent alternative for when you are feeling a bit ill. While it might be rather strange to chew on a stick of ginger or to make ginger tea is too much hassle, you can conveniently pop one of these sweets into your mouth to feel better.
Ting Ting Jahe Ginger Candy
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Classic Asian Guava Candy
This distinctive Asian guava candy wrapped in the green wrapper is a hard sour-sweet snack made from guava fruit. It has a rich guava flavour which is pretty sweet with a tangy sour aftertaste after sucking on it for a while.
You might have come across this hard green Asian candy when dining out at Asian restaurants or even at formal occasions such as weddings.
We like that it cleanses the palate as a post-meal snack, and the sourness also helps with over-eating discomfort.
Classic Guava Hard Candy
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Amira (Tamarind Asian candy)
This is a sweet that uses tamarind. The taste of its hard exterior is a sharp, mildly spicy taste. If you continue sucking it, you'll get a sour note before it explodes into a gooey, sweet middle.
While it is a sweet-tasting nibble, the snack contains natural sugars and has a low glycemic index. This makes tamarind Asian candy suitable for people with diabetes.
Tamarind itself is rich in fibre and has low-fat content. So while it may not be so healthy once processed as a sweet, we still like reaching out for a pack of these treats. That's because the fiery sweetness is addictive. Then, of course, there's also the jelly form of this if you prefer a softer snack!
Amira - Tamarind Candy
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Chun Guang Coconut Asian Candy
Many supermarkets sell this coconut Asian candy in packs of sweets. It's coated with not just coconut but a combination of coconut and durian, which gives it an intense and uniquely creamy flavour.
When you bite into the hard Asian candy, you'll get the milky coconut taste laced with a slight bitterness.
We like this sweet because it smells fragrant, and even if you've never tasted durian, this might be a good start. It also melts quickly in your mouth, so it does not stick to your teeth as much as other sticky sweets tend to do.
Chun Guang Classic Creamy Coconut Candy
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Jelly Pearls
This Asian jelly candy is probably not what you might expect. Unlike many hard sweets, this is a soft jello-type dessert sold in packets or cups. You can open it and slide it into your mouth in one gulp.
The jelly is a slick, smooth dessert, and the taste is intensely sweet. However, you might get a mild fruit taste if it's enhanced with artificial flavour.
If you've ever travelled to Asia, especially Hong Kong, you might see stick-like packets of orange-flavoured jelly everywhere. The orange-flavoured jelly is produced locally in Hong Kong, and you can't find them outside the island.
The good thing is that it has many variations outside of Hong Kong, so you'll probably find something similar. Korean jelly cups are also trendy!
We love that you can place it in the fridge and eat it as a cold dessert, a suitable replacement for ice cream.
Jelly Pearls
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Cocoaland Mango gummy
As the name suggests, this sweet usually comes as a pack of individually wrapped Asian gummy candy. This lovely mango sweet is soft and gooey, and you can chew on it for a long time to get the fruit taste out. It is not too sweet but has a strong mango flavour.
We love it because it's a great thirst quencher for a hot day when you don't feel like having a large fruit smoothie.
This sweet originates from Malaysia. Since tropical weather in Southeast Asia means fruits grow well over there, it's common to find fruits as snacks.
Cocoaland Mango gummy
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Chinese Good Luck Candy
This is a strawberry Asian candy sold individually wrapped in a pack. It tastes like sugar with a slightly tart strawberry flavour. The Chinese use these snacks to symbolise the sweetness of fortune.
Wrapped beautifully in red wrappers, a sign of prosperity for the Chinese, this Asian hard candy has a creamy core with an intense strawberry flavour.
This pretty snack will help ease your craving if you are someone who prefers extremely sweet treats without other flavours.
Chinese Good Luck Candy
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Kopiko (Asian Coffee Candy)
If you're a coffee-lover, this Asian coffee candy is a must-try. It's a cappuccino flavoured hard sweet with no melty middle.
To describe its taste, first, know that the Indonesians make these sweets with real Java coffee beans grown in Indonesia. This means you immediately get the bold flavour of bitter coffee once you pop it into your mouth.
4 to 5 of this sweet equals one cup of espresso, so this small sweet packs a huge caffeine punch.
For obvious reasons, we love this because if you are too lazy to get coffee, a bunch of this at your desk will keep you awake for a while.
Kopiko
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Wang wang crackers
Wang wang crackers are crispy thin rice crackers with a layer of light sugar on them. When you bite into the cracker, it breaks apart instantly. It is beautifully airy, soft and mildly sweet. You will not be able to stop once you start eating them.
Now, we know these snacks do not seem part of the list. But this savoury snack is usually eaten in Asia as a sweet. By that, we mean that it's difficult to stop at one, and if you keep it at your desk, you might find yourself reaching out for it without realising, looking for a nibble.
There are different variations in other Asian countries, but the Wang wang brand with its adorable jumping boy logo is the most well-recognised.
Its Chinese name, translated to English, also means to have good fortune, so it symbolises wishing someone well too! So grab a packet of these to pass to your colleagues as a conversation starter.
Wang wang crackers
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Hong Kong Style Dragon Beard Candy
Hong Kong Style Dragon's Beard is an Asian cotton candy. Imagine tasting your sweetest dream. What would it taste like? We think it tastes like this. It is airy, sweet, and melts in your mouth.
When you bite into the snack, you'll find that inside may have different fillings. Most manufacturers will use peanut, black sesame or coconut. The nut combination gives the snack a slight crunch.
The manufacturer makes the exterior from maltose and olive oil, so the 'skin' quickly dissolves once you start chewing it.
The Asian cotton candy is usually created on the spot and is similar to the Western version. However, many carnivals in Asia have a roadside vendor that will spin this on the site.
Some are so good that they can create flowers and other shapes from the wispy material.
You can try making these on your own, but buying a pack of this will save you the hassle, and it tastes very similar to the carnival version too!
Put them in the refrigerator for best results and eat them cold.
Hong Kong Style Dragon Beard Candy
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Best Asian Candy List
There are a lot of awesome Asian candies to try. Here is a summary of the top 13 on our list:
- White Rabbit
- Chibi Sours
- Hawthorn Candy
- Ginger Sweet
- Classic Guava Hard Candy
- Amira - Tamarind Asian Candy
- Chun Guang Classic Creamy Coconut Candy
- Jelly Pearls
- Cocoaland Mango Gummy
- Chinese Good Luck Candy
- Kopiko
- Wang wang Crackers
- Dragon Beard Candy
Is there a best Asian candy out on the list? We think it's tough to decide! Unlike Western candies, Asian snacks are often less sweet but come with brighter packaging with cute logos. There are often tropical fruits infused into the snack as well.
Many snacks also have symbolic meanings and are eaten for specific occasions. Although, it is now common to see the snacks eaten regularly rather than used for special ceremonies.
If you are looking for good Asian snacks, you might feel overwhelmed when you enter an Asian supermarket. The snack aisle is probably bursting with a massive array of colours, snacks of different shapes and infused with multiple flavours. It might be hard even to know where to start!
So if you want to try something new, ordering a curated Asian snack box might be more convenient. Besides, not all Asian candies are hard, sweet treats. There are also jellies, biscuits, and gummies.
So an Asian candy box offers a great variety of snacks you can choose from, depending on whether you like sweet or savoury. It makes a great gift too!
If you like Asian candy and snacks, follow us on Instagram @honestfoodtalks as we showcase more unique items from the Asian culture!
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